Japan Review Check: Xenoblade, Just Cause 2

Plus: Can Gay Tony hit it big in Japan?

Some highlights from the console games due to hit Japan next week, courtesy of Famitsu magazine's review pages:
- Xenoblade (9/9/9/9, 36 points): The top game of the week, and a review score that's particularly striking because even Xenogears -- director Tetsuya Takahashi's most famous RPG -- received only 31 points upon its release in 1997. "The massive field to explore, plus the sheer number of side quests, is enough to make you forget about the main story," one writer said. "The battles are also excellent, requiring you to constantly think about your position against the enemy's."

While the story was interesting to the review crew, much of the praise was reserved for the battle system, which is "MMORPG-style in the way it plainly defines every character's role in the fight [...]It's hard to keep track of everything when a lot of enemies are attacking at once, but the chaos that results just adds to the tension."

- Just Cause 2 (9/9/8/8, 34 points): Famitsu's reviewers were more positive with their text for this game than Xenoblade, perhaps because they're always a little less lenient with JRPGs over other genres. "A great game, one that takes a B-grade concept and matches it with top-shelf production values," one began. "I really like all the stuff you can do with your grappling hook, from dragging enemies toward you to flying over to them yourself. It matches well with the sheer expanse of the setting, and between that and the ability to warp anywhere you want, the game's really easy to get to grips with. The difficulty level's a tad high, though, which makes the load times on a retry a bit annoying."

Another reviewer summed up Eidos' latest perfectly: "It's just a really silly game, in all the good ways."

- Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City (9/8/8/8, 33 points): The GTAIV expansion package admittedly looks a little pale coming out alongside Just Cause 2 in Japan, but Famitsu liked it well enough nonetheless. "By current standards the graphics aren't quite what they could be, but there are few more perfectly-polished sandboxes out there in game-dom than Liberty City," one said. "Gay Tony in particular is unique; its story is pretty comical, but the content's well-suited for hardcore gamers."

Other editors warned Famitsu readers that this isn't the easiest sandbox game to get into. "The tutorial's bare-bones and the difficulty's on the high side," as one put it, "so it's pretty much meant for experienced GTAIV players."

Comments (9)

Can I sign the petition now?

hold yer horeses....

Before you all get worked up and start pre-ordering Xenoblade in a frenzy remember that this is the same publication that gave MH3 a perfect 40. Yikes........... Also, I get a kick out of reading those Japanese reviews, they are so straight forward and honest compared to the painfully pretentious ways of certain American (GS), and one European (Edge) reviews.

So glad about Xenoblade

Every time I saw new footage of the game it just seemed to be more and more of what I liked (interesting locals, FFXII-like battle system, unique NPC relationship web). I've been extremely hopeful, but at the same time extremely cautious, because it seemed pretty ambitious and the coverage has been scarce. So yeah, this is extremely promising news.

However, while this gets me even more excited to get my hands on it and play it myself, Famitsu has been a little lax with scores lately. So my anticipation is tempered with reserve (as best as it can be) until I see how the localization is being handled and read some english hands on from people I share tastes with.